Reviews

Given toaster917's "Brilliant!!!" and 10/10, for an instant I had to check that we had been watching the same film as I found this absolutely dire and toe-curlingly embarrassing.

Unfunny, and I see that Sellers even wanted it abandoned after seeing the first rushes - I'm not surprised.

It's only good for celebrity spotting if that is your want, but some of them, for e.g. John Cleese should hold his head in shame for the bit he wrote and appeared in.

I'm a big fan of Sellers and had a vague recollection of seeing it when it first came out at the cinema, but the only thing I remembered about it was traffic warden Spike Milligan being bribed to eat a parking ticket he'd issued against Peter.

Where people get 10/10 for this is beyond me. The storyline was absolutely ridiculous, the acting wooden and the songs are best forgotten.

"Great film, well worth watching. It keeps you in suspense." ??

Er, no it doesn't. Bleedin' obvious who the ringer is and William Hartnell as a dodgy "luv a duck guv'ner" small time crook was laughable.

This must have been a stage play originally as I have never seen so many main characters in one room, with the police cohorting with the crooks - ridiculous!

Typical B movie fodder, but I love 'em as it's nice to have a start, a finish and a bit in the middle, with a neat twist at the end.

OK, it was great to see a very young Joe Brown, Marty Wilde and sexy Susan Maughan but other than that it was SO dated. It is of my period but there is no way I would have paid to go and see this when it was released.

I'm sorry, but pop films of this era British or American just look like something the local school threw together with and 8mm cine camera.

The only thing I like to watch this type of film for is to see the cars of this period when I bought my first one.

How btracyusa thought this one of the funniest films ever and where Monty Python might have got some of their ideas from is way beyond me as I found it a laboured bore.

Bit fan of Bob Monkhouse, but comedy actor he ain't I'm sorry to say and the only saving grace in this was Irene Handl.

Poor.

The 6.5 Special TV series was the in thing to watch when I was a young teenager and now, I look on that series with slight uneasiness, THIS FILM takes it to new heights of toe-curling embarrassment.

Dear oh dear, oh dear - this is DIRE!!

The only person to come out of this with any credit was Lonnie Donegan, as for the rest - even John Barry trying to look and sing like a hip-cat was laughable and the rest of these so-called pop stars of the day were little better. And who on earth was Desmond Lane? Never heard of him, and then to see teenage girls' mob him as he played his penny whistle takes it to new heights of ridiculousness. I also wonder how we thought a so-called pop band fronted by a man (Don Lang) playing a trombone was with it, is mind numbing.

And I'll completely dismiss the "comedy" routine by Mike and Bernie Winters as words fail me.

You can see within the first minute that this is an American film and their version of what pre-war Britain was like as it is way off the mark (as were all the Hitchcock TV half hours that were supposed to be set in the UK), as the building is wrong, the interiors are wrong, the police constable with his "cockney" accent is wrong and looks like a Keystone Cops version of what they think an English Bobby would look like with his ridiculous helmet jammed on his head.

Postman blows a whistle when the post is delivered? I think not!! American way if ever I saw it AND newspapers thrown on the outside step instead of posted through the letter box? No way!!

It wouldn't have taken much to get these things right and spoilt the film for me - why didn't they just set in New York? Why attempt a very poor stab at a "British film"?

Otherwise it was a pleasant hour or so with some nice bits of humour thrown in.

..........and wonderful to do some star spotting with these early post war British films, with the likes of Diana Dors, Thora Hird, Tony Newley, Honor Blackman (just about recongnisable!), Maurice Denham. Megs Jenkins etc. etc. not forgetting my wife's favourite actor Leslie Dwyer - Mr "Punch & Judy" Partridge. : - )

Ahh yes, no traffic to speak of, no yellow lines and quiet peaceful villages - what therapy! How I remember England.

"Hilariously funny!?!?"

I think the reviewers here are watching a different film or yet again remembering/viewing it with VERY rose tinted glasses.

Don't think I even smiled once, and boring. Mind you I'm not a fan of horse racing so that doesn't help.

I was losing the will to live after 20 minutes, but stuck it out to the bitter end - the only saving grace being the pretty French actress.

Jack Hulbert being his usual unfunny twit self and as for the first reviewer, he must be remembering it through VERY rose-tinted glasses, but at least his wish has come true in wanting to see it on DVD, because Network has released a box set of "British Film Comedy the 50s". Mind you, I would take them to task over proclaiming on the front cover "Four Hilarious Comedies"

If I had seen this at the cinema when it came out, I would have demanded my money back!!

One way of seeing musical hall acts as this film is basically that. Various people come in, do their very dated bit of tomfoolery and go out again. Some bits I did find laugh out loud centred around Sandy Powell, but most were cringeworthy, especially the monocled Dan Young who was absolutely DIRE!! Surely even then people didn't find him that funny - he even managed to make the slapstick laboured and humourless.

Certainly better than the first reviewer would have it, and if he is a fan of Frank Randell ("Someone more sophisticated such as Frank Randell!") we can dismiss his taste in comedy as there WAS man who was not funny and whose only act was to loon a toothless grin.

Interesting to see a 21 year old Pat Phoenix.........................Oh, and a very young Bernard Youens.

One wonders if cinemagoers really enjoyed themselves on a night at the flicks if this rubbish was what was on offer. Stilted, variable accents and apart from the scenery hardly worth watching - a curio was all that it's worth for an hour or so of my life.

Most of them in the 'The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection I have found absolutely dire, but this one (despite other reviews) is one of the few I have found watchable. Accents are ridiculous of course, AND WHAT IS THAT CAR Clive Brooks drives in the film !!!?!??

FOUND IT! Should have searched it first ;>)

It is a 1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Phaeton Sedan Convertible

And the cat could clearly seen to have been drugged. Cruelty like this would not be allowed these days!

Never did see what was funny with the Crazy Gang and these two confirmed why. Consisted mostly of Flanagan using the wrong word (not even decent puns) to describe something. It wasn't funny the first time he did it and after the tenth (?) or whatever it was, it became annoying. They may have been half decent harmony singers (Flanagan's Dad's Army song was good that he recorded just before he died) but as for being funny? No.

No wonder music hall died.

I cannot believe there was ever such a bad film as this. Meant to be a comedy but I did not laugh once and the acting was abysmal. Even when it was released people leaving the cinema must have felt cheated out of their 1/6d or whatever it was then.

I thought "Escape!" was bad enough, but this takes first prize for clipped upper class accents and one can only wonder at what the steaming masses made of these people when they saw them at the flicks on a Saturday night out. Apart from that the acting was also very hammy and I cannot agree with Film_Nitrate:- "though the young couple played by Frank Lawton and Dorothy Boyd are far more convincing than the rest of the cast" as they seemed to me to be the worst and the only people to come out of it all with some credibility were C. Aubrey Smith and Nigel Bruce.

Nevertheless, it was fascinating to watch as a curio of its time - all I have to do now is run through it again quickly to spot a 20 year old Jack Hawkins in his first film (!?) as he was not mentioned in the film credits – only on IMDb it seems, so well done them!...................................(Oh yes, there he is – and almost blink an you'll miss him!!)

............Owen Nares who's "acting" in the latter part of the film where he has to make life changing decisions re her and her husband's operation is laughable. The many dramatic drawn out pauses had me thinking that Betty Stockfeld (leading lady/love interest) was going to burst out any moment with an "It's your line now", thinking that Owen had dried.

To be fair on him though, I suppose this is what comes of doing too many silent films; although everyone else (including the bit part actors) acted him off the "stage".

Well worth a look, even if it was for the laughs at Owen Nares' expense.

This is the first film on Volume One of The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection that I have been collecting over the last 5 years or so and on viewing it as the first one I then had doubts as to should I have invested so much money in getting the whole set because to be quite frank this film is awful!! And I simply do not understand why the other reviewers gave it a favourable write up.

Wooden acting, stilted dialogue, it made me think I was watching a film of some local AmDram production that had spilt over from the local village hall into the village and local countryside.

Interesting to see Gordon Harker in a small part before his excellent Inspector Hornleigh three (only!) films and a barely recognisable Nigel Bruce who went on of course to be the bumbling Dr Watson to the excellent Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes (in my opinion the best). So, apart from having a cigarette named after him and fathering Daphne Du Maurier, Sir Gerald should have stayed the other side of the camera as far as I am concerned.

Cynthiahost (a reviewer from the States) can be forgiven for saying at the end of her review "Betty Diver only did a few films.", which is true but Betty DRIVER went on to become one of the major stalwarts of the long running (still going!)soap Coronation Street where she played Betty Turpin.

I've just watched this film from my set of The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection DVDs and have to admit I didn't recognise her at all – shame on me! Very good film though, which I thoroughly enjoyed albeit I don't think there was one Scouse accent in it, which was surprising as it was set in Liverpool and most of the actors had Mancunian accents.

Joe Meek was a man I knew little about despite the fact that he was of my era with many mega hits he wrote and produced during the early 60s, most notably "Telstar" which was a massive hit.

An English Phil Spector if you like and even more remarkable for the fact that all this big sound he produced was on basic recording equipment in his flat that was over a leather goods shop in Holloway Road, London.

A flawed genius (aren't they always?) played superbly by Con O'Neill with excellent support cast including Kevin Spacey who effected a remarkably good English accent as a retired Army officer who financed Meeks.

What also surprised me was the number of session musicians that came out his stable to go onto huge fame later in life and the number of then unknown artists he worked with. His life ended in a terrible double tragedy. If it ever comes on TV again I highly recommend you see it.

Previous reviewer:- "Rolls Royce pulls up" Wrong! It was a Bentley Continental actually - luxury cars both of course but quite a bit of difference in style.

Having now bought the entire series on DVD am now going through them all in chronological order (hoping I will see and remember a particular one I saw at the cinema in the early 60s - they were always a 'B' feature); this one, so far, is the best one.

Loved seeing the "period pieces" i.e. The cars and lorries, and recognising actors in their early days, for example, Nicholas Smith (the pawnbroker's assistant) who ironically was in Are You Being Served as Mr. Rumbold along with Larry Martyn who played the "thug" trying to sell him the stolen gun.

Just finished watching the entire series (one each Saturday night), and it was absolutely superb!! Excellent video quality, although only two episodes were in colour owing to the ITV strike. Hugh Burden perfect in the part and Willoughby Goddard was brilliant - very funny.

Can't think of anything else to say about this really. (10 lines of text is the rule!?!) Go out and buy it!!

So, I'll just copy and paste........

Just finished watching the entire series (one each Saturday night), and it was absolutely superb!! Excellent video quality, although only two episodes were in colour owing to the ITV strike. Hugh Burden perfect in the part and Willoughby Goddard was brilliant - very funny.

My wife and I are on a mega B&W "screen in" at the moment (mostly British - the preferred genre) and Saturday nights are like the old cinema used to be! Without the usherette.

However, the two previous reviewers have said just about everything you need to know about this film - Harker and, especially, Sim are superb.

Look out for the very subtle and much underplayed joke with the billiard cue - classic! Had me bursting out with laughter when I noticed it, and I'm sure this was the deft touch of Alastair Sim.

Minimum of ten lines of text it said! So, what more can be said apart from looking out for actors like Kynaston Reeves (the 'beak' in the BBC television's 1950s Billy Bunter) and many much loved uncredited character actors such as Irene Handl, Peter Bull, Megs Jenkins, Derek Farr et al. I wouldn't put the duo of Harker and Sim quite in the Laurel and Hardy league but it is a great shame that there were only three made.

Is that enough to post?